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When I stepped out of the woods on Saturday morning, I thought I’d gone back in time!

Right there in our very own office circle, was a pair of traditional blacksmiths!

While Rick and Jen worked, everyone walking by was a lord or lady, king or queen!!

What the heck was going on? Did I go back in time?

Coooool!

Wait. What if there’s stocks? Or gallows? You know, sometimes, I’m kind of a naughty moose, playing tricks on Tami and stuff. And I heard the Knights back then didn’t mess around. My cute little face and impressive antlers weren’t going to get me out of trouble here . .. .

Waaaaaait a minute! There’s a truck at the gate! And Ben in the golf cart!!

I didn’t go back in time! It’s Medieval Weekend!!!!

The blacksmiths were working hard hand-forging some cool iron work samples. I snuck a peek at their wares . . .

Fire pokers . . . key rings . . . plant hangers and even some roses!

These were Jen’s samples on her key ring. Aren’t they cool!!??

and here’s Tami’s favorite . . . a snake!!

I started looking around and WOW, did we have a ton of stuff going on!

There was a porridge eating contest . . .

Tami never lets me do that, she says it’d take too much scrubbin’ to get the oatmeal out of my fur!

But I wished I’d made it to jousting! These kids are brave!

The viking ship races looked awesome, too. I love all the boats!

they were so clever!

And at Arts and Crafts, we made swords and shields and crowns!

Doesn’t everyone look king-ly? And at the hayride, we were all given whistles. Our parents and grandparents thought that was the greatest thing ever! You know, because of all the noise we could make.

On Saturday night, Hope and her crew from Wind Over Wings arrived with their raptors . . . nature-geek Tami LOOOOOOOOVES them. Really!

This is Pippin, a Saw-Whet Owl . . .

and Tansy, an Eastern Screech Owl. These two were shown around the room to everyone who attended.

Hope and the other Wind Over Wings Staff, told us each raptor’s story. They can’t be released back into the wild because of limitations in flight or sight.

In the case of Queen Solomon, the Great Horned Owl, she can’t be released because she became humanized after being rescued and raised by a human.

Did you know that if you find a baby bird, you CAN put it back in its nest, or close to it, and their parents will still feed them? We didn’t know that – but we’re glad we do now!

Tami fell in love with Zachariah the first time he visited. She ended up putting a raven named Bo in her third Cooper and Packrat adventure, Mystery of the Missing Fox, after learning how smart they can be.

They are problem solvers and love to play, too!

Hope showed us how an eagle feather makes a sound when you swish it through the air.

But an owl’s feathers do not make a peep . . .

That’s so they can be stealthy and silent while hunting.

What a fun weekend! I learned so much and had a good time, too!

Thank you, Poland Spring Campers, for coming out to play! Visit us again soon!

Tami has gotten it into her head that we all need to clear our minds and calm our souls on Thursdays, right before the busy weekends. She added Yoga to the activity list! I told her I wasn’t too sure about this . . . What if my antlers get all tangled up?

But she said, “Try it! You might like it!”

So I watched my little campers for a bit . . .

and they seemed to be having fun with it, so I tried it too!

And you know what? It was kind of fun!

Our recreation schedule was full, full, full last weekend. We had all our usual stuff, seven or eight things a day! But since it was the Fourth of July, we had some extra special activities, too. Like our Red, White and Blue Bike parade . . .

Tami and I couldn’t believe our eyes, when we saw all the bikes roll up!

Our campers went above and beyond this year!

Even our littlest campers.

It was so much fun, you’ll have to check out the videos on Facebook.

On Saturday we had field games . . .

And the water balloon slingshot, too.

I turned around once, to find Brooke throwing a bucket of water on my little campers! “Hey!” I told her, “you can’t pick on my friends that way!”

but they all lined up to let her throw some more! I have some crazy friends!

The watermelon eating contest is always a huge hit!

Debbie cut up two big watermelons for it!

They ate . . .

and they ate . . .

And they ate! It sure looked yummy! Tami never lets me join in though. She says I’ll get my fur all sticky. Sheesh.

I showed up at the house to talk to her about all this snow, and how it’s piling up, and will it ever melt?!

But she just said, “Uh huh. Uh huh.” She never even looked up from her computer. I peeked over her shoulder and saw her editing photos of eagles on the nest.

That figures! It must be April. She always does this when the our eagles nest . . . from now until those chicks hatch, it’ll be the eagles did this and the eagles did that . . .

For example, last week she came back from her trek in the woods, all smiling and giddy. She’d come from the lake and as usual, the eagle was sitting on the nest. She took a few pictures and had turned to head home when she heard a ruckus. When she turned back, she saw a juvenile eagle soar into view, the second adult eagle not far behind . . .

At first, she thought the juvenile was after the nest, perhaps the eggs, but when she looked more closely at the photos, the adult had something in its talons.

The juvenile was after the food.

The second adult came back to the nest and together the two adults warned the juvenile off, as it soared over their heads.

Eventually, the juvenile moved on and the adults settled down again.

Once the danger had passed, Tami said the the second adult took to the air, it’s lunch still in its talons.

I’m not sure I’d want to tangle with those eagles!

Then on April 1st, we had a giant April Fool’s snow storm, 13 inches of heavy wet snow. Tami and I trudged to the lake, worried about the eagles . . . and this is what we saw.

Under all that snow, lies our eagle, with her eggs tucked under her. I thought she’d be cold, but Tami said she suspected the snow acted like an insulation of sorts, keeping her and the eggs warm.

The next morning, when the sun came out, Tami and I went down again. She took this photo from the shoreline across from site 23, at 1,000 feet away, hoping to see down into the nest. At the time, she didn’t see anything but snow.

But once she cropped it . . . see? See the white head?

From our shoreline at 500 feet, this was the image Tami captured. That poor eagle!

But by 3 o’clock in the afternoon, everything was back to normal!

Be prepared, Tami’s gonna post a bunch of eagle photos from now until we open. They’ll be no stopping her, I’m afraid. But as soon as you all get back here to camp, we can distract her with Clean Up Weekend and Spring Special Weekend photos. There’s so many of you camping with us this Spring! We’re going to kick off the season with a bang!

Knights in shining armor started arriving to help protect Poland Spring Campground right after Tami hung the banners.

Tami said she felt safer with them camping with us.

Debbie and Brooke took all their favorite activities from last year’s Medieval and Fairy Tales weekends and put them together in one awesome package! Hammer Throw Games (Bocci), Bubble Play and a Fairy and Gnome hunt. We made Viking Ships at arts and crafts and sailed them in the lake.

And that was only Friday.

Early on Saturday, all our little campers went to Arts and Crafts to make shields, scepters and medieval crowns.

Oh, they were amazing!

And then it was time to practice how to be a knight . . .

We played leap frog . . .

And three legged races . . .

And we jousted too!

We shot off water balloons, had a scavenger hunt and ate porridge!

At the hayride, everyone came in their finest court dress!

Princesses and knights alike!

And Saturday night, we were very honored to have Hope and Carol from Wind Over Wings!!

A crowd gathered on our playing field.

They brought us Tansy the Screech Owl . . . who was hit by a car and lost an eye.

Kai the American Kestrel who was also rescued after being hit by a car. She can no longer fly.

And Cessna. Red Shouldered Hawks aren’t usually calm in captivity, but after being injured, her caregivers noticed that Cessna was. She recuperated from her injuries nicely, but her wing feathers didn’t grow back. Like the other raptors, she now helps Hope and Carol and the rest of the Wind Over Wings staff, in their quest to form a connection between us and wildlife.

And last but not least – Skywalker graced us with his presence.

Such a gorgeous raptor. A stunning Golden Eagle.

His story is inspiring . . . uplifting . . . and emotional. Tami sheds a few tears every time she hears it.

Yay!!! David is our hero!! He fixed this blog!! There was some kind of crazy glitch in the WordPress’s update that kept Tami from uploading pictures . . . and if you know Tami – you know she can’t post on her blog without pictures.

Lots of pictures.

A gazillion-trillion pictures.

(And by the way – Tami tried for weeks and weeks to figure out what was wrong. David googled it and had it fixed in half and hour. Sheesh! )

Now I can show off all the cool things we’re doing here at Poland Spring Campground!

Fourth of July Weekend was a B – L – A – S – T!!!

The best one ever! (Tami says I say that every year – but I don’t think that’s true, do you?)

We had so many new campers and returning campers . . .

Young campers . ..

and . . .

Did you think I was going to say “Old” campers? Pishaw!

I was going to say NOISY campers!

But that’s because Tami and Debbie and Brooke handed out noisemakers for our Yankee Doodle Parade!

If you wore red, white and blue on you or your bike . ..

you got a noisy prize!!

And Tami told us all, right before we headed out – “Wake up all the campers out there! Let them know it’s time to have fun!”

So we did.

That was one of the biggest Yankee Doodle Parades we ever, ever had!!

There were so many people, Tami had to take a pana . . . pana . . . romana . . .

a really, really, really long picture – on her phone – to get everyone in!

There was so much to do . . . bocci, bubble play, prize bingo and Arts and Crafts at the Lake!

We made rockets and shooting star wands.

We even played Colonial Kid Games, like marbles

And the fun continued into Saturday too! There was Arts and Crafts to make Yankee Doodle Hats and Drums for the parade. We made jewelry, shot water balloons in the playing field, and had a scavenger hunt.

But the Watermelon Eating contest was my favorite!

Fourth of July Weekend is one of my favorites!

There’s always so much to do!

Now I have to run – because tomorrow is Sunday, and Sunday always starts with Storytime . . . and at Storytime, there’s always great books!

Everyone helped me blow out the candles on my cake . . . but they re-lit! Twice! That Tami! She put trick candles on the cake. Always keep both eyes on her.

I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday party! It’s always so much more fun, celebrating with friends.

We had a Bouncy House Weekend right after that, and I wished we’d gotten pictures, but Tami was away at her godson’s wedding and I couldn’t find her camera! Guess I should’ve asked for one for my birthday.

And just yesterday we celebrated Father’s Day Weekend by making lanterns, slinging water balloons, making giant bubbles, playing bocci and riding on the hayride!

The hayride is where I get to meet all my little campers right in front of the office. We have a blast high-fiving, playing, hugging, and joking around.

Right up until they get on the hay wagon for a ride around the camp. That’s when the fun stops, ’cause Tami won’t let me drive the truck, or ride on the wagon. “You’ll knock somebody off with those antlers of yours,” she always says.

But we DO get to take a group photo!

Next weekend is Medieval Weekend! Did you know we have all kinds of cool themes, like Pirate, Fiesta, Halloween One, Halloween Too, Fairy Tale, and Superhero Weekend too!? Hurry! Make your reservations!

I ran into the campground office last Wednesday and told Tami I had somewhere important I had to be, and asked if she’d post all the cool pictures we’d taken of me . . . I mean, of my little campers . . . over Memorial Day Weekend.

She looked at her calendar, “I think I can, Maxx, if I squeezed it in after school, but before writing Cooper’s third adventure. Oh! I promised Debbie I’d order some new recreation equipment, too! Are you sure you can’t ~”

“Gee! Thanks!!” I gave her a big hug and took off to do that important thing I’d been waiting all month to do –

The fries were awesome! Thomas said he sold a ton of them. The Deli Sandwich was pretty good too. And that warm chocolate chip cookie!! Heaven!

“Maxx!” Tami tapped me on my shoulder as I scoffed down the last of my third order of fries.

Uh-oh.

She pointed to the store. Then the back office. Then she showed me a roll of camouflaged colored duct tape.

I got the message. Sit and write until I got it done.

But those fries! And pizza! I hadn’t tried the pizza . . .

Tami shook her head. “No snack bar for you until you finish the blog post you promised your campers! I told Thomas to shut you off. You’re banned from the snack bar until you finish this blog post.”

So here goes . . .

Scenes from candy bar bingo! It was a full house!

Lots of candy bars were won and lost!!

We had arts and crafts and water balloons and ceramics and bocci and story time and jewelry making and the movie Frozen and

bubble play!!

We made HUGE bubbles!

Salamanders were found . . . and saved from the pool.

We had a pots and pans parade (Tami put a video of it on Facebook!)

Here I am, getting kicked out of the driver’s seat of the golf cart once again.

I LOVE our parades!

Maggie and Debbie and I make a great team!!!

I took lots of photos with kids too!

There was one glitch to the weekend though. As if the crazy on and off again rain showers weren’t bad enough, right before the hayride, David discovered a flat tire on the wagon.

Sigh.

But you know what? I have the very best little campers in the whole world! Because they didn’t complain once! I was so impressed, Debbie, Maggie and I handed out some patriotic tattoos!

Aren’t they all awesome!

Thanks to a camper friend who fixed the flat, we were able to have the hayride on Sunday instead!

I don’t just hang out with the kids either, you know. I met lots of cool adult campers too!

But no one was as cool as this kid! Check out his shirt!

Spider Moose! My favorite Super Hero of all time! He can climb the climber, and swing from tree to tree with his super spider webbing! And with his spidey-senses he can tell . . .

There’s crumble burgers being served at the food cart!

Gotta go!

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Poland Spring Campground

We're a family run campground geared toward family campers. Swim in Lower Range Pond, a 290 acre, 9.9 hp lake, or sunbathe by our pool. Canoe or kayak to see eagles, loons, beaver and more!
The fishing is great too!
The kids will love our full day, everyday recreation program in July and August featuring arts and crafts, story time, horseshoes, boat races, trash bag theater, scavenger hunts, magicians and much, much more!
For more information on our campground, click on the link at the top of the page.